Yom HaZikaron, the Israeli day of mourning for casualties of war and domestic terrorism, is marked by ceremonies and sirens. At 20:00 on the 4th of Iyar, a one-minute siren rings across the country, and both pedestrian and vehicle traffic come to a stop. An official ceremony at the Western Wall brings together politicians, soldiers, war veterans and family members of fallen soldiers and victims of terrorist actions, and the flag is lowered to half-mast.

While Memorial Day holidays for fallen soldiers and casualties of war are as necessary for countries as a national flag and a national beer, in much of the world, those dead soldiers are an abstraction, their sacrifices and their conflicts long consigned to history - which is why in the United States, say, the majority of the population associates Memorial Day with mall sales and barbecues rather than rows of white crosses standing silent vigil above the beaches of Normandy.

Israelis, however, do not have the luxury of that level of removal, for Israel was born by war and has been plagued by war ever since, and in many ways, the war that was the country's founding spasm has never truly ended, only varied in intensity over the decades. This ceaseless conflict, coupled with compulsory military service and a small population, means that no Israeli is ever separated by more than a degree or two from a casualty, whether a fallen soldier or victim of terror. Thus, Israel's Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron) answers a pervasive societal need to account for and remember the dead, and as such, is marked by a pervasive national grief that might surprise a visitor from a country where Memorial Day is mostly just a day off.

Much like Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Day) the week before, Yom HaZikaron is marked by ceremonies and sirens. At 20:00 on the 4th of Iyar, a one-minute siren rings across the country, and both pedestrian and vehicle traffic come to a stop. An official ceremony at the Western Wall brings together politicians, soldiers, war veterans and family members of fallen soldiers and victims of terrorist actions, and the flag is lowered to half-mast.

At 11:00 the next morning, the siren rings again, this time for two minutes. Emotionally charged ceremonies continue at Israel's military cemeteries and community centers, in particular Jerusalem's Mount Herzl Cemetery, where families of fallen solders gather to mourn their losses.